{"id":830378,"date":"2026-07-29T03:06:14","date_gmt":"2026-07-29T03:06:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/830378\/"},"modified":"2026-07-29T03:06:14","modified_gmt":"2026-07-29T03:06:14","slug":"f1s-next-calendar-puzzle-what-replaces-qatar-and-abu-dhabi","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/830378\/","title":{"rendered":"F1’s next calendar puzzle: what replaces Qatar and Abu Dhabi?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Formula 1<\/a> has already solved one problem this year.<\/p>\n

The Bahrain Grand Prix, postponed in March<\/a> after the outbreak of the Iran war, will now be run at Sepang<\/a> on 4 October \u2013 Malaysia\u2019s confirmed return plugging the gap left in the Baku<\/a>-to-Singapore<\/a> window and restoring the calendar to 23 rounds after Saudi Arabia\u2019s cancellation took it down from the original 24.<\/p>\n

The bigger problem hasn\u2019t gone away, though, it\u2019s just moved to the end of the season.<\/p>\n

The Qatar and Abu Dhabi Grands Prix, scheduled for 27-29 November and 4-6 December respectively, remain under a cloud as the regional conflict continues, and Formula 1 chief executive Stefano Domenicali has said a final call needs to come before the end of September.<\/p>\n

The clearest sign yet of how seriously that threat is being taken arrived on Tuesday, not from Formula 1 but from its sister championship.<\/p>\n

The FIA confirmed that the World Endurance Championship\u2019s own season run-in, originally set for Qatar and Bahrain, will instead be run at Barcelona<\/a> and Monza<\/a>, citing \u201cthe current regional security situation and its effect on freight and travel arrangements.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Lewis<\/p>\n

Formula 1 last races at Sepang in 2017<\/p>\n

\n Grand Prix Photo\n <\/p>\n

WEC\u2019s Qatar round had already been pushed back once, from March. This time, rather than wait any longer, the series simply moved.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a partial precedent rather than a direct one, as WEC doesn\u2019t race in Abu Dhabi, so the switch only speaks to the Qatar side of Formula 1\u2019s dilemma, but it\u2019s a concrete example of a top-tier FIA championship concluding that the operational obstacles in the region are not likely to be resolved in time, and choosing to relocate rather than gamble on a late reprieve.<\/p>\n

Formula 1 is reportedly working through a similar set of alternatives.<\/p>\n

Qatar\u2019s WEC round was scheduled for 24 October, a month before the F1 event, so there is still some breathing room, but time is running out.<\/p>\n

Now Imola<\/a> has emerged as the leading candidate to replace the finale if needed, ahead of Portimao<\/a> in Portugal and a more speculative offer from Istanbul Park in Turkey.<\/p>\n

FOM is also said to favour adding a second race at an existing host \u2014 Las Vegas, Baku or Singapore \u2014 rather than bringing in a new venue, but that idea reportedly doesn\u2019t have unanimous support from the teams.<\/p>\n

If it\u2019s dropped, the fallback options are the European venues below.<\/p>\n

Imola: the emerging favourite<\/p>\n

Imola\u2019s case is straightforward: it was on the Formula 1 calendar as recently as 2025 (having returned in 2020, with only the 2023 edition lost to flooding), so its Grade 1 status and operational readiness are far more current than any of the venues considered for the slot.<\/p>\n

\"Alexander<\/p>\n

Imola was on the calendar until last year<\/p>\n

\n Grand Prix Photo\n <\/p>\n

December is also clear on Imola\u2019s own calendar \u2013 its closest fixture, the Imola Classic, falls in mid-October.<\/p>\n

What sets this apart from the earlier round of speculation is that it now has an on-record F1 comment behind it.<\/p>\n

Domenicali has confirmed Imola remains the championship\u2019s back-up plan if the Middle East rounds can\u2019t go ahead \u2013 a genuine, attributable source, rather than the unnamed-sources sourcing that characterised the Bahrain-slot reporting.<\/p>\n

One issue with Imola is that the December temperatures average around 8-10C by day and 1-3C overnight, well outside the range Formula 1 normally operates in.<\/p>\n

The closest precedent is last year\u2019s Las Vegas Grand Prix, run in similar cold, where drivers needed extra out-laps just to get tyres into their working window. It\u2019s not necessarily a reason Imola wouldn\u2019t happen, but it\u2019s a real variable for Pirelli\u2019s tyre choice and the on-track spectacle.<\/p>\n

Likelihood: high. Recency of hosting, a clear December date, and direct confirmation from F1\u2019s own chief executive put Imola ahead of the other two.<\/p>\n

Portugal: the fallen favourite<\/p>\n

Portimao was the early favourite for a finale contingency, for reasons that carried over from the Bahrain-slot discussion: turn-key infrastructure, agreeable late-year weather, and recent experience as a pandemic-era stand-in.<\/p>\n

\"Carlos<\/p>\n

Portimao will return to the calendar in 2027<\/p>\n

\n Grand Prix Photo\n <\/p>\n

That\u2019s reportedly changed.<\/p>\n

The circuit is midway through preparing facility upgrades ahead of its own contracted return in 2027 and 2028, and taking on a last-minute race in December risks disrupting that renovation timeline, which is now cited as the reason Imola has moved ahead of it in the pecking order.<\/p>\n

Likelihood: moderate, and falling. Still a credible option, but reportedly no longer the frontrunner it was thought to be earlier in the process.<\/p>\n

Turkey: an offer, not (yet) a front-runner<\/p>\n

Istanbul Park is already contracted to rejoin the calendar from 2027 on a five-year deal, and the venue is reportedly willing to move that forward by a year.<\/p>\n

\"Carlos<\/p>\n

Turkey made a one-off return in 2021<\/p>\n

\n Grand Prix Photo\n <\/p>\n

The catch is the same one that applied when Turkey was floated for the Bahrain slot: doing so would mean accelerating renovations planned for the 2027 launch, on a much tighter timeline.<\/p>\n

Turkey is seen as a secondary option behind Imola and Portimao rather than a leading contender.<\/p>\n

Likelihood: low-to-moderate. The willingness is reportedly there, but it isn\u2019t being framed as the preferred solution.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Formula 1 has already solved one problem this year. The Bahrain Grand Prix, postponed in March after the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":830379,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[573],"tags":[403555,403556,64,63,817,813,816,85],"class_list":["post-830378","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-formula-1","tag-2025-qatar-gp","tag-2026-abu-dhabi-gp","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-f1","tag-formula-1","tag-formula1","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/830378","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=830378"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/830378\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/830379"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=830378"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=830378"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=830378"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}